15
Mar
Many thanks to my friend Amy for nominating me for this blogging award! I’m glad there are some folks out there enjoying my tiny little corner of the blogosphere.
By accepting the award, I agreed to share seven things about me that you might not know. That didn’t seem like such a difficult task until I sat down and tried to think of seven factoids that might actually be interesting enough to share (and that wouldn’t in any way give out clues to passwords or security questions on accounts…).
Seeing as how this blog deals with reading, writing, romance, and all things paranormal, I figured I’d try to stick to those topics in some way or other. Here’s what I (finally!) came up with:
1) I published my first poem when I was 13. It was horrible. Truly. I only submitted it because I had to for an assignment in my 7th grade English class. Who knew it would actually be accepted? My dad kept that rotten poem posted in his cubicle at work for over twenty years. (Sweet, yes. But–ugh! Really? Of all the stuff I’ve written, you chose that poem, Dad?)
2) I’ve never read a “trashy” romance novel (you know–the ones with the really risque covers you see in the supermarket and pretend not to pick up and page through? Oh, come on, you know you do). I’m not sure why I haven’t ever read one–I’m certainly not opposed to them. Like every other type of romance novel, I’m sure there are some really fantastic ones out there that would be a lot of fun to read. I’m open to recommendations. 
3) For every manuscript I mention writing, there are three that I’ve started and discarded. Sometimes an idea grabs me by the gut and won’t let go, but then I start writing and realize my head’s not in the right place for that particular story. When that happens, I shelf it to come back to later and move on to the next. The novel I’m working on at the moment was the fourth one I started in February. I’m 120 pages in and still loving it.
4) Confession time: I did not absolutely love everything I had to read as an English major in college and grad school. That big gust of wind you just felt was the collective gasp of English majors everywhere who mistakenly feel they have to pretend to be in raptures over every scrap of literature placed before them or they’ll be outed as frauds who don’t really know what they’re talking about. Here’s a newsflash, kids: Even the professors don’t always love what they’re making you read–and I guarantee you they don’t always know what they’re talking about.
5) Taking a page from real-life romance, I met my husband at a friend’s birthday party that both of us almost didn’t attend. Talk about fate, eh? 
6) No romance is without its adventures, and HH and I seem to be doubly “blessed” in this regard. I was briefly kidnapped while we were honeymooning in Mexico (long story), so to make up for that debacle, we decided to spend our first wedding anniversary in Chicago–one of my very favorite cities and a much safer destination.
Or so we thought.
When we arrived at our hotel, we found it surrounded by ATF agents. As luck would have it, there was an international conference that weekend and numerous foreign dignitaries were staying at our hotel, thus making our “safe” vacation spot a prime target for terrorists. While we were sitting in our car waiting for our turn to be searched for bombs, my husband turns to me and says, “I had normal vacations before I married you.”
It’s true. Poor guy. At least it’s never boring!
7) Zombies seriously freak me out. So do clowns. Zombie clowns are right out. The zombie clown crawling under the bathroom stall in Zombieland nearly sent me over the back of the couch. Fortunately, it was a brief appearance and I was able to watch the rest of the movie (which is freakin’ hilarious, y’all).
Well, there you have it, a few facts about me. Hope they weren’t too terribly boring! Thanks again for stopping in and sharing my adventures (and misadventures, as the case may be).
2
Feb
Seeing as how I’m stuck at home today, courtesy of a huge ice storm hitting the Midwest, I thought I’d share a bit of good news.
I’m happy to announce that Red has tied for 2nd place* in the Finally a Bride Contest, sponsored by Oklahoma Romance Writers of America! It would have been awesome to place 1st, natch, but this was a particularly tough competition. In order to enter, you had to have been a finalist, but not the winner, in another contest. With that kind of playing field, just making it to the final round was huge and 2nd place still rocks!
And…
One of the final round judges who is an editor with a major publishing company has requested the full manuscript! Yeah, baby!!
Obviously, I’m excited about the possibilities here. Even if the editor decides Red isn’t a good fit for her particular imprint (hey, it happens), just having such a big name in the industry interested in my work is tremendously exciting! And you never know how this kind of interest could open other doors.
I have no idea how long it will take to get a response from the editor–it could be months. But I’ll keep you posted on what happens, regardless. Stay tuned!
M.
*Just a reminder: “Maura Bishop” is a pseudonym, so you’ll find me listed under a different name on the contest page.
